Growing tomatoes

Knowing how much I love to grow my own food, my dear friend Hakim brought some tomato seeds back from Bangladesh for me. Even though I've not experienced much success growing tomatoes (except for the Italian cherry tomatoes), I sowed the seeds in several pots and crossed my fingers.

All the seeds germinated. Some seedlings died and I was left with three healthy plants. One started to wither after bearing one fruit. I removed it after it dried up completely.

I continued to tend to the two remaining plants and voila, they're producing tomatoes! Each time I see them, I spot new fruits emerging. The first one is beginning to turn orange and I can't wait to taste it.

Growing coloured greens

It has been a while since I posted but in case you're wondering if I have given up... well, no. I'm still growing vegetables at home! In fact, I am growing nice coloured 'red' greens (what an oxymoron) like red mustard and lettuce.

This company in Singapore (www.pocketgreens.com.sg) imports an interesting range of seeds that germinates easily and grow well in our climate. As you know, freshness of seeds is important as it translates to a high germination rate.

Take a look at some of the plants growing in my balcony right now.

This is red bak choy. As you know, we're always told to eat more coloured vegetables, so I'm very excited to be able to grow them organically at home!

 Despite our hot climate, the red romaine lettuce (below) grows well too. They even survived the heavy downpours that we've been having lately.

The best looking ones are the red mustard. The leaves may look delicate but they're really resilient. After a heavy downpour, I was dismayed to see them flattened by the rain but to my surprise, the leaves sprung up shortly after and looked even more fresh than before.

I harvest the larger leaves for salad and let the plants continue to grow new leaves. They're my current favourite - pretty and tasty.

 I sowed some kai lan seeds too. At first they were growing slowly, but after I transplanted the seedlings to a bigger pot, they began to flourish. I went away for 4 days and was surprised to see how much they have grown.